Christmas tree ornament and method of making the same



' Nov. 6, 1934. P. KRANZ HAL 1,979,888

CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Dec. 23, 1953 BY 2 a? ATTOZZ YI Patented Nov. 6, 1934 -CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENT AND METHOD OF-MAKING. .THE SAMTE Philip Kranz and Albert P.= Schmid,-'Philadelphia,

Pa, .assignors to Bernard wilmsen, Philadelephia, 5. Pa.

,,Application,;Decemb.er 23, .1933, vSerialNo.70,15,689

4 Claims.

Qurinvention ;relates to .a new and useful Christmas tree ornament and more particularly rtothalustrous ball type which is commonly used on Christmas 1 trees to add color ,effect, due to its 1 shiny, highly deflecting, ,-multicolored outer surf-ace.

Qurinvention furthenrelates to a novel method i ma utac urine an o nament f t haracte stamiawhich addition to producing a cver rdesi a l product :al re u th ts ,of :ma. fact rea-nd dist ibu i n.

It h s heret fore daeemth pra tic t ma such Christmas;treeiornamental balls out of very th nafraeile lass, .which is silver d and th n suitably colored to give it the proper luster, which balls, while being very effective as ornaments,

are nevertheless very fragile and are subject to a great percentage of breakage in transit and in handling due to their extremely brittle character.

It is the object of our invention to produce an unbreakable, light ball which will serve the same decorative purposes with equal efficiency and which not only is not subject to the hazard of breakage but is also extremely inexpensive to manufacture.

To the above ends, our invention consists in a novel Christmas tree lustrous ball type ornament which comprises an inner core of a flexible, form-retaining material preferably formed of two interlocking sections, an outer lustrous covering for said core in one or more colors, and a decorative band encircling the decorated core and covering the junction of the sections thereof. with or without the addition of an ornamental configuration of tinsel or other ornamental material framing, surrounding, attached to, draped over, or forming a background for the ball proper.

Our invention still further relates to a novel method of forming an ornamental ball of the character stated which consists in striking up two semi-spherical sections of a flexible, formretaining material, permanently attaching an interconnecting band to one of said sections for joining said sections together, covering the sphere thus formed with the desired lustrous sheet material of any suitable color effect, covering the junction of the two semi-spherical sections with an ornamental band, and finally applying to the ball thus formed the desired decorative environment by means of tinsel or other decorative strands suitably converged about said ball.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of a ball embodying our invention, certain parts of it being broken-away to show theginternal. construction.

-Fig. 2-representsthe method of makingandassemblingtheinner core, of theball. ,Referring to thedrawingin whichdikereference-characters indicatelike parts, 1and2. desig 679 nate semi-spherical sections struck up ,or. formed of va form-retaining flexible material, such ,as straw-board, or thelike,saidesections beingpreferably, formed by means .of .a dieof the size and contour desiredto produce ornamentalobjects Q5 of a spherical, spheroid, oval, etc.,- shape. .In one of :the sections is inserted a cotter-pin-or other bent wire, or the i like, ;to .form :an :eyelet 53 -as shown-in Fig, '2. '4 designates-a circulanband formed of the same material as the sections 1 7p and 2 and permanently secured to one of the sections 1 and 2 with a part of the band 4 projecting beyond the straight edge 5 of the section to which it is attached. The part of the band 4 which projects beyond the straight edge 5 of 75 the section 1 or 2 is adapted to slide into (or over) the straight edge of the other semi-spherical section, thus detachably to join the sections 1 and 2 together in the form of a sphere, as shown in Fig. 1. After the sections 1 and 2 have been assembled into the form of a sphere, as shown in Fig. 1, lustrous pieces of material 6 and '7 of any desired color combination are applied to the outer surfaces of the sphere in any desired design and an ornamental decorative band 8 of 5 any desired color or design is applied to the ball at the junction of the sections 1 and 2 to encircle the meeting edges of the sections 1 and 2 and to add to the decorative efiect of the completed ball. The ball is now ready for hanging to a twig of a Christmas tree, but, if desired, it is within the scope of our invention to utilize lustrous tinsel 9 of any desired color or combination of colors, which strand of tinsel is made to encircle the ball and is attached to the upper eyelet 3 and to the bottom hole 10 thereof and is then wound or twisted about itself to produce any desired ornamental contour. If the tinsel strand 9 is used in connection with the ball, the entire device can be suspended from a twig of 106 a Christmas tree by means of the wire 11 which is of the same color and texture as the ornamental strand 9 and, which hence produces an invisible suspension.

It will thus be seen that by our novel method 195 we have produced a novel Christmas tree ornament which is highly lustrous, adequately to reflect and refract the light cast thereon in the same manner and tothe same extent as the conventional highly polished, fragile, glass balls 11c retaining material,

"permanently secured to one of said sections and heretofore used, and which in addition to being unbreakable are less expensive to manufacture and ship. It will also be seen that it is within the scope of our invention to use the ball alone or in conjunction with the ornamental configuration of the strand 9 and that by utilizing lustrous metal foil for decorating the exterior of the sphere formed of the sections 1 and 2 we are enabled to apply a greater variety of contrasting and harmonizing colors than would be possible in the case of conventional glass balls which are sprayed or otherwise painted.-

We are aware that certain variations can be effected in the detail, construction'and decoration of the ornamental ball disclosed and .we wish the annexed drawing and the foregoing specification to be taken as illustrative rather than delineative of the scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. An ornamental ball for Christmas trees and the like, comprising an inner core composed of semi-spherical sections formed of flexible, forman interconnecting band adapted internally to engage the other of said sections to form a complete sphere, a lustrous covering for the external surface of said sphere, and a decorative band encircling said sphere at the junction of said semi-spherical sections.

2. An ornamental ball for Christmas trees and the like, comprising an inner core composed of semi-spherical sections formed of flexible, formretaining material, an interconnecting band permanently secured to one of said sections and adapted internally to engage the other of said sections to form a complete sphere, a lustrous covering for the external surface of said sphere, a decorative band encircling said sphere at the junction of said semi-spherical sections, and a decorative tinsel strand disposed about said sphere in any desired design.

3. The method of making an ornamental ball for Christmas trees and the like, which consists in forming two semi-spherical sections of a a flexible, form-retaining material, joining said semi-spherical sections together by means of an interconnecting band permanently secured to one of said semi-spherical sections and detach- .ably engaging the other of said sections to form a spherical core, covering said core with the desired lustrous material, and finally camouflaging the junction of said spherical sections with a decorative design.

4. The method of making an ornamental ball for Christmas trees and the like, which consists in forming two semi-spherical sections of a flexible, form-retaining material, joining said semispherical sections together by means of an interconnecting band permanently secured to one of said semi-spherical sections and detachably engaging the other of said sections to form a spherical core, covering said core with the desired lustrous material, camouflaging the junction of said spherical sections with a decorative design, and finally associating the finished ball with an extraneous decorative design.

PHILIP KRANZ.

ALBERT P. SCHMID. 

